11:1 MOREOVER, THE Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the East Gate of the Lord's house, which faces east. And behold, at the door of the gateway there were twenty-five men; and I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. |
11:2 Then [the Spirit] said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city, |
11:3 Who say, [The time] is not near to build houses; this city is the boiling pot and we are the flesh. |
11:4 Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man! |
11:5 And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, Speak. Say, Thus says the Lord: This is what you thought, O house of Israel, for I know the things that come into your mind. |
11:6 You have multiplied your slain in this city and you have filled its streets with the slain. |
11:7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Your slain whom you have laid in your midst; they are the flesh and this city is the boiling pot, but you shall be brought forth out of the midst of it. |
11:8 You have feared the sword, and I will bring a sword upon you, says the Lord God. |
11:9 And I will bring you forth out of the midst of it and deliver you into the hands of foreigners and execute judgments among you. |
11:10 You shall fall by the sword; I will judge {and} punish you [before your neighbors] at the border {or} outside the land of Israel, and you shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord. |
11:11 This city shall not be your boiling pot, neither shall you be the flesh in the midst of it; I will judge you at the border {or} outside of Israel; |
11:12 And you shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes nor executed My ordinances, but have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you. |
11:13 And while I was prophesying, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down upon my face and cried with a loud voice, Ah, Lord God! Will You make a complete end of the remnant of Israel? |
11:14 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, |
11:15 Son of man, your brethren, even your kindred, your fellow exiles, and all the house of Israel, all of them, are they of whom the [present] inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, They have gone far from the Lord [and from this land]; therefore this land is given to us for a possession. |
11:16 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord God: Whereas I have removed [Israel] far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet I have been to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries to which they have come. |
11:17 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give back to you the land of Israel. |
11:18 And when they return there, they shall take away from it all traces of its detestable things and all its abominations (sex impurities and heathen religious practices). |
11:19 And I will give them one heart [a new heart] and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony [unnaturally hardened] heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh [sensitive and responsive to the touch of their God], |
11:20 That they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God. |
11:21 But as for those whose heart yearns for {and} goes after their detestable things and their loathsome abominations [associated with idolatry], I will repay their deeds upon their own heads, says the Lord God. |
11:22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels which were beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel [the Shekinah, cloud] was over them. |
11:23 Then the glory of the Lord rose up from over the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is on the east side of the city. |
11:24 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. |
11:25 And I told the exiles everything that the Lord had shown me. |